Thursday, March 24, 2011

Ratatouille

I had a bunch of vegies in the fridge that needed to be used up before they went off....what to do? I was contemplating an eggplant and zucchini bake but then what would I do with the other vegetables? I needed a recipe where I could throw in everything together and not waste anything. So I did some research and came up with a vegetable stew, why of course.....ratatouille!! And I've never made it before till now. I will certainly be making this many more times. It's the best way to use up any pieces of vegetable you have left in the fridge and it tastes great! And it's healthy. Win win yay!

Tomatoes are the key ingredient, along with eggplant, capsicum, zucchini, onion and garlic. I however wanted to use up my pumpkin I bought on special. So tweeked it slightly. Also traditionally I believe it should be layered. But really, who has the time? Not me anyway.

My vegies that needed to be used up

Ingredients

2 tablespoon olive oil

3 cloves of garlic, minced

1 large onion (I went with 2 small onions), diced

1 large eggplant, cubed

Pumpkin (I probably used about 100g), cubed

Capsicum (go with the red for more colour, but I used both), cut in wedges

4 tomatoes (I only had 2 so also added a can of diced tomatoes), diced

2 large zucchinies, sliced

1/2 tablespoon chopped thyme (or 1/2 teaspoon dried thyme)

1 tablespoon oregano (or 1 teaspoon dried oregano)

1 tablespoon basil (or 1 teaspon dried basil)

Handful of chopped fresh parsley

Salt & Pepper

1. Saute the onion and garlic (about 5mins)

2. Add the pumpkin and cook for 3mins3. Add the eggplant and cook for 3mins

4. Add the capsicum

And the tomatoes, cover and cook for 10mins. Make sure to stir occasionally to prevent any vegetable from sticking to the bottom.

Add the zucchini and herbs, cover and cook for 15mins

Open the lid and wow....clear the pores!

Smells delicious! Tastes pretty good too

Unfortunately I didn't take a plating shot as I had to cart the whole pot out the door over to my brothers place to feed my family of hungry hungry hippos